InFlight / 2018-2021
Timesheets & Absence Tracking
Turned time and absence entry into a visual calendar, helping employees catch errors earlier and improving completion across enterprise and university deployments.
Design Highlights
Overview
Timesheets & Absence Tracking replaced static legacy timesheet systems with a modern, calendar-based web application for enterprise clients. The visual calendar interface showed time spans clearly and supported mobile-responsive touch controls, turning a tedious data-entry task into a visual one.
Challenge
Legacy timesheet systems in PeopleSoft and similar platforms were static, cumbersome, and error-prone. Users struggled with table-based data entry that provided no visual feedback on time allocation. The interfaces were desktop-only with no mobile support, and the poor usability led to low completion rates, data entry errors, and frustration for both employees and managers who depended on accurate time tracking.
Approach
Replaced the static table-based approach with a modern calendar view that visualized time spans, making it immediately clear how time was allocated across projects and absence periods. Designed for mobile-responsive touch controls to enable time entry from any device. Worked within tight timelines and technology constraints inherent to the InFlight platform.
Solution
Built a calendar-based timesheet application that showed time allocations as visual spans rather than rows in a table. The modern web interface supported responsive layouts and touch controls for mobile use. Visual feedback made it clear at a glance how time was distributed across projects and when absences were scheduled. The application integrated with the same legacy systems through InFlight's abstraction layer, maintaining data consistency with the underlying platforms.
Impact
Employees could see project time and absences as calendar spans, making allocation errors easier to notice than in row-based legacy forms. IBM, Towson University, the University of Arizona, and other customers saw higher workflow completion, adoption, and satisfaction. For InFlight, the project showed that a clearer interaction model could improve routine compliance without adding training or process overhead.
Key Learnings
Replacing static data entry with visual interfaces dramatically improves both accuracy and satisfaction. When users can see their time allocations as visual spans on a calendar, they catch errors that are invisible in table-based entry. Mobile-responsive design was critical because employees need to log time from wherever they are, not just at their desk.